


Kingdom of the Dark

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, Dark Romance, Hades and Persephone Elements, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Kylo Ren is a Mess, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 08:49:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17422727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In which Poe Dameron’s capture takes a different turn.





	Kingdom of the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Canon will diverge next chapter, promise.

He is sunlight, smooth and golden-bronze and vibrant, the sort that would cause anyone to stop and look at him despite themselves. His hair falls around his delicately sculpted face in thick black curls, and his eyes sparkle with confidence — he knows what he’s doing, and he’ll carry it out to the end. 

He stands with General Organa in the debriefing room, even as she speaks with him. “If there’s anyone I can trust this with, it’s you,” she says to Poe. “If you can get the map safely back to the Resistance, it will all be worthwhile.”

Poe nods. “I’ll see it through to the end, General.”

He walks away later, others of his squadron, close-knit friends, wishing him luck above all else. The occasional hug or clap on the shoulder makes him smile; they are bonded together in ways that war makes you. Even as his orange and white droid, BB-8, wheels beside him, Poe is confident that he will get this mission right, and he will return. 

***

He is a sight unsettling to look at, with his masked visage that feels almost like looking at something that you can’t quite decipher. His grandfather’s mask had some degree of continuity to it, some degree of knowing what the maker was going for. This, however, is almost like looking at a faceless being. One can make out the inklings of what might have been a bird motif, or a dragon motif, but mostly he is all but faceless, and Kylo prefers it that way. He is a fearsome visage, the Jedi Killer, and he prefers it to someone looking beneath the mask and seeing how vulnerable he really is. 

Underneath the mask, he is all but ready to crack. 

Even as he looks over the files for his recent mission, he freezes at the name  _Dameron._

He recognizes that name too well. Kes Dameron, a friend of his father’s. And now he has a son. Favored by Leia. Underneath, Kylo grinds his teeth. It’s not a day to smash things, not yet, but it’s close. Damn General Organa. He would have done whatever he could in order to please her and instead, she and his father hated him. He hates them in turn. 

He takes a closer look at the pilot’s face. He’s almost delicately handsome — no, beautiful. He’s the sort of man whose beauty can be counted as almost angelic, he can’t help but think. An angel’s face. He’s grateful, not for the first time, that his own face is hidden behind a mask. He’s not a beautiful man. Even looking through holos of the pilot, Poe Dameron, Kylo has to admire his brown, expressive eyes and bright smile. It’s more than simply being attractive; there’s something about him that’s simply warm and bright. Something Kylo never was. 

He draws away from the reports and orders First Order crewmen to ready his shuttle. Phasma’s going with him, with her stormtroopers — some haven’t been tested on the battlefield yet. They will in time. 

Kylo heads to his shuttle, enters it, and assumes a meditative position in the back. He tries to draw on his anger, his old anger at his uncle’s betrayal and his parents’ rejection of him. If only, he thinks, he didn’t have images of Poe Dameron dancing around his head. 

***

It’s during the battle of Tuanul, after Poe has been forced to fight after his X-wing’s been disabled, after he’s handed BB-8 the map so he can get it to safety, to anyone, really, that things get worse. 

A shuttle glides out of the sky, cutting through it like a vibroblade. It lands, and Kylo Ren emerges, hooded and masked. Poe can see him, not particularly as tall as Vader was but still a menacing figure. Still tall too. He and Tekka meet. They talk. Poe can’t make out everything they’re saying, but he can tell that Kylo has gotten angry at the fact that Tekka mentioned he didn’t rise from the Dark Side. 

Interesting. No one’s told Poe that. And something about a family, after Kylo threatens him — Kylo’s family. Does he have one? Assuming he didn’t emerge from the depths of the Corellian hells fully grown? 

Tekka falls. Poe emerges from his hiding place and shoots — only to realize, too late, that Kylo Ren can freeze blaster bolts. Freeze him. He can’t move, can’t speak. Stormtroopers grab him, escort him towards Ren, and force him to his knees. The impact is sudden, painful, and he swears that Ren is studying him too intently. 

Ren kneels in front of him, casually, like the stormtroopers are being overly dramatic. Poe, after a while, says, “So who talks first? You talk first, I talk first?”

”The old man gave it to you,” Ren says. His voice is soft, almost tender in how he speaks. Too intimate, like he’s speaking to a lover and not an enemy. He swears that Ren is just looking too much at him, and —

“It’s very hard to understand you with the — ”

”Search him.” Ren’s voice is gruffer now. 

“ — apparatus.” 

Poe tries to maintain a defiant look as the stormtroopers pat him down. He swears Kylo’s still looking at him, eyes lingering on his open shirt like he’s analyzing it. Poe only wonders what’s going to happen next. The stormtrooper reports back that there’s nothing. Ren orders Poe put on board. 

When Tuanul’s village is ordered razed, Poe protests. He has to. He can’t let innocent people die. He just can’t — but the stormtroopers hustle him in and the village is obscured from view. There is the sound of blasterfire, and then silence. 


End file.
